Re-enactment Experiences Mark II

[dmeck7755]

I love fry pies...especially when still warm.

[Turnstylus]

Agreed, @dmeck7755 ! They're a handy snack at camp, or anywhere else!

And I hope you feel better soon, @midwestmutt - those weeds must have had good roots!

The hatbands and bracelets are a lot of fun. And I'm very impressed with the animal depictions on the pouches!

@midwestmutt , have you collected any of this type of handicraft? I've seen the pictures of your camp and instruments - the dulcimer struck me as particularly pretty (yes, I did catch that pun, and decided to leave it in there  ), and wondered if you went in for these items as well. What is the cultural significance of the designs? Or is beauty in the eye of the beholder the goal?

[midwestmutt]

The woman who makes the quillwork comes from South Dakota to visit relatives in Wisconsin and stays for Bloody Lake. She told me her designs have no historic significance, they mostly show the skill of the maker. I have bought hatbands from her which cost $25 per row. I had to sell my hammered dulcimers because dry eye disease makes my vision too fuzzy when I concentrate too hard on things like the guide marks on the bridges. I made sure they went to fellow reenactors so they will still be heard at vous.

[Buteo]

So glad you could find good homes for your hammered dulcimers; that's not always easy.

Thank you for the wonderful pictures of Bloody Lake. I look forward to going to events again later in the year; it has been a while.

[midwestmutt]

A few more vendors and scenes from Bloody Lake.
Mark Nelson is a friend and one of my favorite flutemakers. I have around 7 of his flutes I've picked up over the years.  Here he is explaining how he makes them by hand to a potential customer and another pic of his wares.


Trapper is an old friend and recreation gun seller. He's keeping the cannon however.

Another vendor sells knives as well as guns.

Every year a puppy is declared most cute by popular acclaim. Here is this year's champion, Rusty the adorable.

A small camp under an oilcloth diamond fly. I camped for years in a similar setup. Good times in a camp that went up and down in 15 minutes.

Some of the friends I camp with at Bloody. We are a French and Indian War militia called the Sugar River Fencibles and gather in a common mess tent to eat and socialize.

[Keep Looking]

Those flutes look amazing! As a clarinet player myself I have always been interested in the process of making wind instruments - how the instruments are hollowed out, and also particularly how people who make handmade instruments know where to place the finger holes in order to keep the instrument in tune!

[Turnstylus]

All great pictures @midwestmutt !

And your friend Mark has great taste in wood selection for those flutes! The figuring in the grain, the occasional inclusion a raw surface - each one of the flutes has very distinct character.

[dmeck7755]

Lovely pictures!!  The puppy is most cute!!

[Róisín]

The Gumeracha Mediæval and Rare Crafts Fair is on over the first weekend in May at the Gumeracha Park in country South Australia. I will be performing there as a singer and storyteller, also selling dyes suitable to the period as well as seeds and live plants used to make the dyes. Yastreb may well be coming with me as an apprentice storyteller (I think he is going to be very good, people enjoyed his work last year).

My friend Liz will also be there singing with the Umbrella a Capella choir. The whole event promises to be great fun. We will have tanners, blacksmiths, wood turners, musical instrument makers, brewers, coopers, boat builders (and a Viking boat), the Spinners and Weavers Guild and all manner of other interesting stuff. Plus dancing (including an amazing Ukrainian Traditional Dance group), plus falconers, fighters, horse riding displays, wandering musicians and more. Lots of good food too. If you can’t see me (my avatar picture is a pretty good cartoon of how I look in real life) ask around for Bev the Bard.

The Mylor English Ale is also on at the Mylor Oval and Community Hall on May 18th, though I probably won’t be there this year since I had already agreed to do a different gig at Mannum before the date for the Ale was finalised, dammit. I may get there for the evening part of the event, the torchlight parade and bonfire, but I doubt it unless my transport situation changes dramatically.

[wavewright62]

Wow, it always sounds like such a good time when you talk about the Medieval Faire.  I really ned to get around there at some point.  (This year, a concert.  That's what I get for being in 2 bands.)  I'm willing to bet Yastreb can spin a tale, too.  But I can't decide whether a spooky story or a humourous story would be more suited....

[Róisín]

I have known him to do both, as well as epic fantasy. It’s a pity Star is stuck in hospital at present, he is also pretty good. A storyteller I think you would also enjoy is Dusty Grey, the tall guy with long white hair and beard and a wizard’s staff, whom you might remember from some of the early photos in this thread. He is with me and the Fair falconer in one of those pictures. His wife runs the Fair. A few years back Dusty and I shared a storytelling gig at the North Kapunda Hotel, reputed to be Australia’s most haunted pub, as part of the Lowender Kernewek, a big Celtic Festival here in SA. It was tremendous fun. We both do singing and storytelling, and bounce off each other very well. Dusty is another bushie, he grew up on a farm in the Snowy Mountains (the area from which come tales like The Man from Snowy River and two of my personal favourites The Man From Adaminaby and the origin story of spider orchids).
He spent a lot of his life as a bushman and wilderness guide, which is where I know him from, and these years is retired (he is a good deal younger than I am but still in his mid seventies) and sometimes works as a boatbuilder, working on projects such as recreating some of the big fishing canoes used on the Murray River by Aboriginal tribes of the area. We hope to sing together at this Fair.

[Keep Looking]

Oh wow, the fair sounds amazing! I hope it all goes well.

[Róisín]

I am certainly looking forward to it!

[thorny]

I wish I could get there!

but I hope to be planting early spring planted crops, here on the other side of the world.

[Buteo]

Róisín, I hope you have a wonderful time at the fair. It is really too bad Star can't go with you; maybe there will be a suitable souvenir for you to take home to him.